Santiago Calatrava

I had a good look around at the Bridge on Monday (Sunny Day) and I was quite impressed, the quality and finish is superb, design is interesting and pedestrians are well catered for.

I can’t agree with some of the negative comments on another discussion thread at all, the bridge highlights the drabness of the surrounding 90’s apartment blocks but it could hardly be argued that the bridge should drably fit in with the apartments, the bridge will be around long after the blocks are pulled down.

Originally posted by FIN
sorry for my ignorance…where is this bridge???

At the intersection of blackhall place and the quays. Down near the Guinness brewery. I think the below link should work.
http://www.maporama.com/share/Map.asp?ADDRESS=usher%27s+island&CITYCODE=18691445&CITYNAME=Dublin&ZIPCODE=&XgoPointX=23295&XgoPointY=2961364&XgoSetLogicalScale=3&AREACODE=I1&NumberCurrentStep=0&SESSIONID={A47195DE-578C-48D7-BE3C-A0DABF4E7D13}

Don’t have access to an indo today! But if it was a big white arched bridge, then thats the one. There was some good linkage to photos and websites in a previous thread on this subject:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?threadid=2003

I had a bit of a walk-about on it last week and must say I was very impressed. I think it will look great once it is opened. The pedestrian areas are much larger than I thought, although it will be interesting to see what sort of use they get (if the bridge was in the region of the boardwalk, it would be a nice place to sit and a nice “extension” of the boardwalk, although there is no room for a new bridge down there). That area of the quays doesnt really get very much pedestrian traffic at all.

It’s official name will be James Joyce Bridge – i think

I have to swallow the bile and say it looks really classy there. Those sweeping lines and shadows are great.
But then you can’t see the buildings in the backround or even water- its all design and no context…….I live to hate another day.

Just been down to the official opening and I have to say its a great addition to the city. Fuck the begrudgers. Its a fabulous bridge to walk across or sit on and is incredibly photogenic – so photogenic that you don’t notice the dross that OUR GENERATION has let be constructed on the quays.

Loads more photos tomorrow when the film comes back….

I like:
the way the pedestrians are “protected” from the road traffic, the pedestrian walkways are separated from the main bridge bed. In effect it is like three bridges;
the opaque glass walkways and they way the light defracts through them onto the water surface;
the way you can lean comfortably against the railings and look at the river between the pedestrians and the roadway.

Also the lighting is integral to the design and easily accessible for replacement but not for vandalism.

Now now, Matt Talbot is’nt all that bad, it was the 70s after all. I think it is very sleek, slender and unobtrusive, although the road & paving leaves much to be desired.

The James Joyce is beautiful.

Thanks RTE for showing your usual contempt for architectural issues and dumping the documentary into the graveyard hours, always reliable. Indeed a REPEAT of the ‘State We’re In’ is being shown before it, such is the ignorance. If it was a minority interest religious production it would be on at 10.00 or earlier.

I agree……It was on around 1 am or something like that….it should have been on around eight instead to help educate the masses and drop Eastenders and all the other regular banal drivel.
The bridge looks brilliant and it is a great landmark……Let’s hope now they get their fingers out and build the other Calatrava bridge further down the quays.

The Loop Line? why rebuild it?

A good clean, and remove all of the advertising would be enough.